Press.



Patent@ Oct. 15, w18.

1. H. @RDW/w.

PRESS.

APPLICATION F|LED SEPT. 8| 1917.

JOSEPH H. ORDWY, OF BRGOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

PRESS.

Application filed September 8, 1917.

To ali whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnru H. Onnway, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of `Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Fresses, of which the following is a specification.

ln U. S. Letters Patent No; 1,252,298, granted to Ine on the first day of January, 1918, I have described a process of making box toes whichincludes o r may include, as one of its steps, the subjection of a sheet of box toe stilfening compound while in a soft condition to a preliminary molding operation whereby the thickness of the sheet is reduced at its edges 0r otherwise varied according to the character of the shoe in which it is to be used. rThe molding operation just referred to is most conveniently performed by a press provided with appropriate dies which receive between them not only the sheet of compound itself but also one or more sheets of textile material included in the shoe upper to which the coinpound is applied, and my present invention is intended to provide a press which will be particularly adapted for the purpose above referred v The specific press hereinafter described is provided with means for heating as well as molding the sheets of stiifening compound, being intended for use in connection with sheets of compound which can be softened by heat, but it will be understood that the heating means can be omitted if not required and that the press can be used without substantial modification for molding or compressing various other articles, with or without the employment of heat.

rlfhe features in which my invention resides are hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which z Figure 1 is a side elevation of the press as preferably constructed for the purpose above referred to, the top of the presi; being partly broken away and 'the dies being shown in open position;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the press shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a central vertical section in a plane parallel to Fig. 1, showing the dies in closed position; and

Fig. 4 is a section onv the line 4-*4 in Fig. 1.

rEhe frame of the press consists of a base Specication of Letters Paten-t.

Patented @eto 15, Sera1No.190,328.

2 and an upright $5 bolted to the top of the base Z at its rear and overhanging the front portion of the base., on which rests the. fixed lower die of the press. This die, in the press illustrated, is torn-led in a metal plate t which serves as a cover for the hollow front portion of the base 2 and is thus adapted to be heated from below by suitable means, such as an electric resistance coil 5, located within the hollow base. 1n order that the heat. generated by the coil 5 may reach the sheets to be heated as directly and with as little loss as possible the plate 4 is so shaped as to constitute the molding die of the press, its top face. being made concave, as shown at 6, in conformity with the desired contour of the molded sheet, and the coil 5 is located inu'nediately beneath the concavity 6 and closely adjacent to the plate Ll, where it is held by a clamping bar 7 deta-chably secured to the base. 1n consequence, the metal 'to be traversed by the heat is relatively thin at the pointwhere the sheet to be inoldedvis located and is thinnest beneath the thickest portion of the sheet, where the maximum heating action is required in order to render the compound uniformly soft. The press is adapted for use with sheets of different sizes by removably connecting the plate el to the base 2, as by lugs and screws E3 and 9, and providing an appropriate set of such plates with each press. rll`he coil 5 can be removed, if necessary, by first removing the bar 7 and then detaching the ends of the coil from a pair of fixed' terminals carried by the base 2 and adapted `to be connected by means of suitable feed wires to the source of current. @ne of these terminals is shown at 10 in Fig. 3.

The upper or movable die of the press is provided by the vfiat bottom face of a platen 1l carried by the lower end of a plunger 12 and guided in its movements by a pair of vertical pins 13 secured thereto and passing throng-h a liorizoi'ital rib 15e on the upright 3. The )lunger 1Q arranged to slide vertically in the over-hanging portion of the upright and is reciprocated by means of a lever 15 having at its free end a handle 16 and shaped at its opposite end to provide a circular disk 17. This disk is vertically slotted as at 18, Fig. 2, to receive the upper end of the plunger, and is itself received within a Space bounded laterally by vertical walls 19 forming a part of the upright 3 and above and below the disk by horizontal sur faces 20 and 21, with which the disk makes a free sliding tit. The disk and plunger are connected b v a pin 22 passing transversely through them and located eccentrically with respect to the axis of the disk, provision beingmade for inserting the pin by boring a suitably located hole 23 through one of the walls 19. This pin constitutes the only connection between the lever 15 and the plunger 12, and since the disk 17 can turn on the pin but is prevented from moving vertically by the horizontal surfaces 2O and 21, which are long enough to engage the disk in any angular' position ot' the latter with respect to the pin, the result of raising or lowering. the handle 16 is to raise or lower the plunger 12 and the platen carried thereby, the range of movement of the lat-ter being obviously equal to twice the radial distance between the axis of the pin and the axis of the disk.

When the pin 22 is in its uppermost position, shown in Fig 1, it is on a dead center with respect to the disk 17, and by moving the handle 16 backward slightly beyond the position shown in Fig. l the rear wall of the slot 18 is brought into contact with the plunger and the axis of the disk is moved from under the axis of the pin in such direction that the weight of the platen tends to hold the parts in the position thus reached, .whereby the dies are held open for the insertion or removal of the work. When the handle is moved downward toward the position shown in Fig. 3 the pin 22 and plunger 12 are forced downward by the cam action of the disk 17 on the horizontal surfaces 20, and as the pin approaches its lower dead center position a rapidly increasing leverage is obtained, thus making it possible to exert a powerful pressure on whatever may be located between the dies. F or molding sheets of the character above referred to, however, it is desirable that the molding pressure employed should be substantially uniform in all cases and that the dies should be capable of adjusting themselves to slight variations in the thickness of the work, and consequently a compressed spring 24 is preferably interposed between the plunger 12 and the platen 11 and rovision is made for a limited amount of re ative vertical movement between these parts. In the construction illusstrated the platen is provided with an upwardly-extending hollow base 25 which receives the lower end of the plunger and the latter is also made hollow to receive the spring 24, a set screw 26 passing through the boss 25 and entering al vertical slot 27 in the plunger being employed t0 detachably connect the plunger and platen as Well Vas limit their relative vertical movement. 1rWhen the pin 22 is in its lower dead center position the set screw 26 is near the upper enc of the slot 27 and the pressure exerted by the platen is :caetera measured by the expansive force of the compressed spring 24, being thus rendered independent of the force applied to the handle 16. ln order that the work may be left sub- 'ject to the pressure exerted by the spring 24.

a stop finger 28 on the lever 15 is arranged to engage the front end ot' the uprighty 3 after the handle 1G has moved downward far enough to carry the axis of the disk slightly beyondv the dead center position, whereupon the reaction of the spring 24 tends to hold the parts in the position thus reached.

The mode of use of the press will be obvious from what has preceded. lVhen used .for heating as well as molding the work it will usually be found convenient for one person to operate two or more presses located side by side, leaving a piece of work subjected to heat and pressure in one press while another piece of work is being removed from another press and replaced. rlhe advantages of the press, in addition to its general adaptability to the kind of work above referred to, are found mainly in the simplicity of its construction, which involves .but little finishing of the parts employed,

-its immunity from getting out of order and the facility with which the work 'can be heated and subjected to pressure simultaneously.

l claim:

1. A press comprising a hollow base, a metal plate secured to the base and exposed within the latter, said plate being provided with a concave outer face to form a mold, heating means located within the base, adjacent to the concave portion of the plate, a die movable toward and away from the plate7 and means for operating said die.

2. A press comprising a frame, relatively movable dies, a reciprocating plunger carrying one of the dies, an operating lever provided at one end with a disk connected to the plunger by an eccentric pivot pin, and means for preventing movement of the disk in either direction in which the plunger reciprocates while permitting movement of the disk in a transverse direction.

3. A. press comprising a frame, relatively movable dies, a reciprocating plunger cari rying one of the dies, and an operating lever having at one end a disk slotted to receive the plunger and connected to the latter by an eccentric pivot pin, said frame being provided with bearing surfaces eX- i tending in a direction transverse to that in'which the plunger reciprocates and adapted to receive the disk between them.

4. A press comprising a frame, relatively movable dies, a reciprocating plunger carrying one ot' the dies and adapted to have a limited longitudinal movement with respect to the same, a spring interposed between the plunger and the die carried thereby, an operating lever provided at one end insieme with e disk connected to the plunger by an eccentric pivot pin, and means for preventing the disk from moving in the direction in which the plunger' reci )rocutes whileI permitting movement of the disk in :i transverse direction.

5. A. press comprising u frame, relntivel)v movable dies, n reciprocating plunger cnrrying one of the dies und adapted to hure a limited longitudinal movementwith respect to the seme, zir spring interposed between the plunger und the die carried thereby, an operating lever provided at one end with n disk connected to the plunger by an eccentric pivot pin, means for preventing the disk from moving in the direction in which the plunger reciprocates While permitting movement of the disk in a transverse direction, and a stop for holding the disk neer dead center position with respect to the plunger.

6. A press comprising :i frame having n hollow baise, u metztl )lute secured to the base and exposed within the lutter, heating means located within the base adjacent to the plate, n plunger arranged to reciprocnte toward und away from said plete.r 'a die carried by the plunger lLind adapted to here a limited movement. with respect to the plunger in the direction in which the lutter reciproci'ites, n spring interposed between said die and plunger, and means for reciprocating the plunger und holding said spring under compression after the die has been brought into Contact with the work.

Signed et Boston, Massachusetts, this 4th day of September, 1917.

JOSEPH H. OBDVVAY. 

